


Human Nature

by orphan_account



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I Will Go Down With This Ship, M/M, Regret, Upupupupu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-11
Updated: 2014-02-11
Packaged: 2018-01-11 23:58:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1179485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why was Togami taking this specific execution so terribly hard? He has convinced himself that he doesn't understand, but the truth is standing right in front of him; Togami knows that much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Human Nature

**Author's Note:**

> Just for your information, all quotes and scenes I used from after the execution (and in the next chapter, too) are taken from the official translation of the anime (on Funimation). I saw some different translations of what everyone said during these scenes on YouTube, so ya XD ignore this, thanks for reading!

He was gone, then. The death had been painless, it seemed. Seemed. Togami should know better than to think it was painless, but it was only logical. If he had fallen from a hole in the ground, especially if he would have fallen a great distance, Naegi would have probably died instantly. Yet, this execution wasn't painless. Naegi's death was gruesome, horrific, and painful in the hearts of any beholder, but Togami didn't really understand why. He didn't get why his heart was beating so quickly. He couldn't fathom why he was breathing so fast, or why his hands were shaking. He certainly didn't understand why his cheeks were wet. This hadn't happened during any other of his classmate's horrifying deaths. 

Naegi should have deserved it. He should have murdered someone, it should have been him who killed Mukuro Ikusaba. If he had actually killed whoever it was under that mask, he would have deserved this punishment. That was how this game worked, even for beautiful, optimistic, fascinating people....  
No. Why was this thought clouding his mind with smoke? Naegi had been worthless... worthless... he could feel his fist clenching, sweat gathering in his palms.  
What else could he have been? Having no talent meant that he was worthless. He had nothing special about him, nothing that set him apart. He was just another face for Togami to ignore. 

And yet, everyone would be dead if he had not been there; it didn't take a genius to figure this out. Without the brilliant mind of Makoto Naegi, Togami knew that they would all be as dead as their souls were at this very execution.  
Now he was dead.  
And so was Naegi. 

For no reason whatsoever. 

When he had hit that button at Voting Time, he knew that Naegi wasn't guilty. Kirigiri, that bastard, that bitch. She have him the last-second, idiotic burst of adrenaline that always took over him. This adrenaline had always got him to purchase the right stocks on the market; taking risks wasn't his style, but when he got some last second information, like a quick rise in price, his body took over his brain. He was pretty sure that he would never purchase stocks again, seeing where this "talent" had taken him.  
Rotting away in a garbage dump... he almost hoped that Naegi was already dead. 

Hoped. 

How could hope even exist without Naegi here? Naegi was the only one who could pull him out of this despair right now, but he had killed him. 'It was all my fault...' Togami thought, _'Was the voting even determined by majority? Was it consensus? Could I have saved him just by voting for Kirigiri?'_  
"I knew it wasn't Naegi."  
Crap. He hadn't meant to say that out loud. He hadn't even realized that the others were talking, having a conversation with that evil bear. Now everyone had the chance to remember that he was in the room. They could turn and see his face; they could see how his eyes were widened with horror, how his jaw was hanging open, how different he was from his usual smug expression. And he didn't even know why he was like this in the first place; these emotions were beneath him. 

And yet, he did know. Naegi had been the only one other than that annoying author to actually want Togami's presence. Everyone else hated him, and he still didn't care; he was used to it. Usually, people who liked him were just as or more annoying than Fukawa, demanding his presence, forcing petty and kind words upon him and expecting the same in return. Just like the high-flying superheroes that infiltrated the media, Togami worked alone, yet Naegi didn't care. 

Usually, people who Togami turned his back to thought of him as rude and unfeeling, never returning to his presence in their own free will. Naegi was... different. As annoying as his never ending optimism was, and as useless as he was as a person, Naegi never failed to think of Togami as an ordinary human being. Togami built so many walls constructed to keep other people away, but Naegi always found hairline cracks in them and slipped through while others attempted to crash them down. As much as Togami had hated this, as much as he hated being infiltrated like some rotten teenagers trespassing on private property, he found it fascinating. He held great interest in how Naegi had the willpower to try and just accept Togami for who he was. No matter how many times Byakuya turned him down, he still had the hope continue. Naegi was different in a way that Togami didn't understand was possible, so for the first time in forever, Togami kept him close. This annoying kid had enough hope to actually accept him, and that had never happened before. And he had thrown it all away with the click of a button, a vote determined by his own free will.

"It wasn't me, guys!"  
Togami shuddered. Those were the last words Naegi had hollered before his fate had been decided. He didn't remember too much; his hand had been glued to his face, stuck in the position of holding up his glasses, a sad attempt to cover the blatant fear of uncertainty plastered across his face. What he did remember, though, was the desperate cries. He had never heard Naegi yell like that, even during the first trial when he was suspected, and it got under Togami's skin. And just like that, even though his only friend was screaming and on the bridge of tears, Togami voted him to die in the name of LOGIC. In that moment, he had made a mistake, and Byakuya hated making mistakes.  
Especially this mistake. This one would come back to haunt him every night. 

A loud banging shook his train of though off it's rails. Monokuma was slamming his head into the desk and blackboard of the execution room, shattering the glasses on his face to pieces. The sight and the sound made him cringe, and he instinctively placed his slender fingers onto his own.  
"It looks like things didn't go according to plan." An emotionless female voice echoed overtop of the constant banging and annoying voice of Monokuma.  
Togami grit his teeth. He wanted to scream at Kirigiri, to slap her across the face. How dare she speak so formally and indifferently when she killed her friend. It was she who made the final statement that drove everyone to vote for Naegi instead of herself. She betrayed her friend, killing him for something he didn't do. Even his own means of betrayal wouldn't go this far.  
He could never forgive her. 

• • •

Togami hated being wrong. He hated it more than anything in the world.  
But for the first time ever, he hated being alone. 

Whenever someone had died before, it usually just meant that one less person stood in the room. All they left was a sign in the school trial with a red "X" painted across their face. Togami was used to loss, and didn't care much for despair, so he felt no need to mourn over those who had either been foolish enough to trust others within the school and getting murdered because of it, or needlessly kill off someone else. He also felt no need to mourn or feel pity for those who brutally murdered others, whether or not they were being forced to.  
Now, he understood how Ishimaru felt after the second school trial; he just couldn't accept that Naegi was gone. 

After the last execution, everything felt wrong. The rules were no longer being payed attention to. This wasn't how the game worked, and Togami hated it from the pit of his stomach. Usually, if the trial had been especially emotional, the ease and reminder of rules and order helped him cope. Well, that and the fact that he knew that the others weren't worth his tears; they all hated him, and that was just another day in the life of Buakuya Togami. He usually knew that this was all part of the mastermind's plan, and that if he hit that button, he wouldn't be a bad person; he was supposed to vote, after all, and he would probably be killed by Monokuma if he didn't. Being a heir meant being a leader, so he always had this sense of responsibility not to crash and break; knowing that rules like the ones in this school were the ones protecting him from sin helped him prevent crashing and breaking. If only those rules had actually applied to Naegi, then maybe he wouldn't be crashing and breaking right now. 

Everyone could tell. Togami had been even more silent and antisocial than usual. He hadn't insulted anyone since the execution, even when Fukawa's constant swooning reached a certain high level of annoyance. He was taking uncomfortable measures to avoid everyone in Hope's Peak; even right then and there, standing in the cafeteria with the others, he stood aside by the sealed serving-window, staring into the slid-down metal. Most of all, the sadness that seemed to ooze out of him seemed to be apparent to everyone but himself. The glare he gave to the empty space he had been staring at hour after hour was so out of character that the other students seemed had to question if he was even the real Togami. Nobody seemed to think much of him, though, as it wasn't just him who was distraught. Everyone seemed like something particularly important had been lost from the group, and nobody seemed particularly happy about how small the group had become...  
Especially since Kirigiri was nowhere to be found. Even so, with her gone, the room was still no more silent than it would have been if she was present. 

"Guys, where do you think Kirigiri is?"  
Aoi was the first to break the silence. Her voice seemed slightly choked up, but Togami wouldn't turn to see her face. His eyes remained planted on the sliding door covering the window... thing.... crap. His thoughts couldn't even process properly to figure out the correct name. 

"H-how are we supposed to know? And why should we care? She doesn't even like me, why should I care, huh?" Fukawa piped up. She sounded even more pissed at everyone than usual, and that was saying something... 

Togami counted the scratches in the metal. 1...2...3...

Hagakure joined in, "Hey, don't talk like that. Kiri probably just took a walk or somethin'. This school is huge. Maybe one of us actually used some of the utilities or somethin'," he sighed, and Togami groaned, "don't go trying to find her, though. Maybe she feels guilty 'cause of what happened..."

6...7...

"Well, she SHOULD. P-p-pinning death on the innocent like that. Who freaking does that? She should have been the one executed, not N-Naegi!" Fukawa half-yelled. Togami really wished she would stop acting like a 5-year-old brat, but he didn't disagree...

Scratch number 8 was especially long. 

Aoi sighed. "We didn't even get to say goodbye..."

BANG. Togami felt his left fist land hard on the counter beneath him, and Hagakure shrieked in return. Pain sent a small shock up his tense wrist. Togami just couldn't take any more of this. "WOULD YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP."  
He was supposed to sound strong and confident, but his voice cracked very noticeably on the word 'you'. Fuck. Now all he could do was stare down at his hand because he didn't really have the motivation to move it. Now there were 8 scratches in the sliding window and one dent in the counter. This hell-hole was going to fall to the ground if anyone kept talking.

"Togami..." Aoi whispered, but since the room was so silent, her voice just sounded like she was speaking with an ordinary volume. He heard a step toward him coming from her direction, and he was guessing that it was going to turn out as the cliché "shoulder-touch of condolence". No, Togami didn't need her sympathy, nor he did need anybody else's. 

"I'm going to my room."  
Pivoting quickly on his toes, he swiftly stormed out of the cafeteria, bumping into Aoi's shoulder half-accidentally on the way past. The glare he instinctively gave her seemed to give her a shudder, but he decided to not care, as usual. All he could hear was her small sigh and the clicks of his own shoes as he made his way to the dorms. He guessed it was meant to be this way. All living, breathing people were stupid, conversations were stupid, everyone was an idiot.  
Now he just had convince himself that Naegi had been one, too. 

• • •

As soon as the bedroom door was locked behind him, thoughts were flooding into Togami's head, and he needed to get them out. He kept seeing flashes of the brunette in the corner of his eyes, and it was driving him insane.  
 _'I need to get out of here.'_  
The one person who cared about Togami was dead, so what did it matter anymore? There was nobody there to change his mind with idiotic interpretations of how the world was actually a good place, giving false ideas of hope. There was nobody there to fascinate him with their sincerely hopeful interpretations of the world that he didn't even understand. Nobody for him to attempt to ignore, but fail miserably, because he needed to see how they worked. Nobody for him to convince himself that those eyes weren't beautiful. 

_'Who would judge me if I killed someone?'_

If he simply killed off one of those worthless classmates, he could get out of this hellhole. He could convince himself that Naegi didn't matter because nobody mattered to him when he sat inside his office, managing his business duties. He honestly didn't care if anyone, including his parents, found out he had killed somebody. All the media would display was how of a "poor boy" he was for having to endure the torture that must have occurred at the school, and even though that would be torturous, some consequences would be necessary. 

"But Togami, all that killing in here does is please Monokuma." A soft but determined voice rang in his head. 

_'No, Naegi, get out.'_

Fuck. Normally, he would just ignore his conscience, but if he wanted to think straight, he needed Naegi out of his head. 

"What would I do? Would I kill someone?"

He could almost see Naegi smirk, even though he had never really seen it before. But as much as a Naegi-smirk made him want to smile...

_'Why would I base my opinions off of yours?'_

"Togami, if you kill someone, you won't ever understand why I didn't."

_'Shut up.'_

"Why wouldn't I kill somebody, Togami? Where did all of my hope come from, anyway? Will you ever know?"

_'Shut UP, Naegi.'_

"Would the Super High School Level Heir ever give in to his enemy? Monokuma would be proud of you."

_'Get out of my HEAD.'_

He needed to think. He needed this voice out of his head. All he could do was ignore, ignore, ignore.

Who cares if he killed someone? It was all part of the rules. The one person who he could not shake loose by simply acting like himself was gone, and so was the one person who he would hate to find him out... the one person who could find him out, except maybe Kirigiri. 

However, if he put enough evidence out there to convince the others to blame on Kirigiri, he could do it...  
But he already had an alternate plan. 

He had the motive and the motivation to do it, of course, he knew that much. That bitch had sunk below his level and had made someone else die in her place, and that person had been her friend... and his too. He had to accept that fact; as much as an invaluable boy with no potential as he was, he was so different, and Togami just couldn't ignore it. However, the term "friend" didn't feel normal in his mouth. It was more than just inexperience, he didn't feel that it fit...

The decision was final. Kirigiri was going to die, and it was going to be gruesome, and Togami was just looking forward to getting out of this dump, and thoughts were pouring into his head like heavy rain. He wouldn't blame Hagakure, because, even if it was a completely utter waste of a title, maybe that 30% chance of fortune-telling success would help him in trial... somehow. He could blame Genocider, but Kirigiri was female, of course, and even he had already tried this manipulation.  
As much as he wanted to frame the murder on Asahina, he just couldn't find a motive to give her.  
Fukawa would have to do. She displayed an attitude earlier today that would make for a great motive. Togami sighed. I guess Kirigiri's death can't be too gruesome, if I'm going to frame Fukawa. Poison would have to do, or simply a method of murder that didn't involve physically injuring the body with your hands, like pushing someone off of a-  
Conveyor belt. 

Flinching, he pushed the thought aside. He needed to sleep. He had read books about psychology and human nature and he had always disagreed with them, but he knew that if someone was mourning a death (which he knew he wasn't), plenty of rest was always a good thing. Undressing, he shuffled his thin body into the cold sheets and relaxed.  
Bad idea. 

"Goodnight, Byakuya. Have a pleasant rest."

**Author's Note:**

> Writing as emotional-Togami makes me emotional xD so I'm pretty sure that there will be just one more part, and I'm working on it :) thanks for all of the hits and kudos!


End file.
